RMG workers’ wage issues will be solved by Jan: Govt

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 19:42, Jan 08, 2019 | Updated : 19:48, Jan 08, 2019

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi holds meeting with representatives of factory owners and workers at the Secretariat on Tuesday (Jan 8) to address the ongoing unrest.Amid workers unrest in apparel factories for the last three days, the government on Tuesday (Jan 8) has assured to solve all the issues over new wage structure by this month.
It has also formed a 10-strong committee to address the issue.
The panel comprises of five representatives from the workers and five from officials of the commerce and labour ministries to put an end to the ongoing unrest, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi told the media after a meeting with representatives of factory owners and workers.
Hundreds of garment workers have taken to the streets for a third successive day on Tuesday to press home their demands including implementation of minimum wage.
Munshi also called the agitated workers to return their factories from tomorrow and assured them saying, “We will solve your all sorts of problems including salary by a month.”
Earlier, Commerce Minister Munshi and State Minister for Labour Munnujan Sufian held a meeting with the garment workers and owners at the Department of Labour in Motijheel area of Dhaka around 4:30pm.
Apparel workers allege that the monthly wage in the seventh grade increased to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300 as per the latest gazette published by the government last year. But, the salary of the workers in other grades did not increase at the same rate.
The salary hike for the entry-level workers was more than that of their senior operators, who have been working for more than seven to eight years.
The new wage has been effective from Dec 1. Major disparity in the salary hike was noticed in the third and fourth grades as their salaries were not raised like that of entry-level workers.
In most of the grades, other than the seventh, only Tk 500 was raised in the new salary structure, whereas an entry-level worker's salary had increased by Tk 2,700 at one go.

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